Personal Injury Archive
Worst Toy List: Inflatable Bongo Ball A Potentially Bumpy Ride
December 11th, 2012. By AbiK
A huge inflatable ball that you can climb into by any other name—e.g., Bongo Ball, Giga Ball, GBOP Ball, Human Hamster Ball—whatever—is still a huge inflatable ball that you can crawl into and roll around in. Some even let you bounce around in them, bumping into things (and other people) as you play. It gives new, and literal, meaning to “living in a bubble” for sure—but does it afford the same protection that the saying implies? Uhh, probably not.
And definitely not according to consumer watchdog group World Against Toys Causing Harm (WATCH). WATCH has put the Bongo Ball, available at Toys R Us, on its 10 Worst Toys list for 2012.
Recently we posted about a study in which bounce houses—another inflatable fave for bouncy good fun—were found to be the cause of injury requiring medical attention in what amounts to 30 children a day! A number of those injuries were the result of a child somehow jumping out of the bounce house and landing on a hard surface. At least they weren’t encased in the inflatable and it didn’t land on top of them in the process.
But, as WATCH indicates in its report, when you’re in a big inflatable ball, you’re pretty much encased (s
ee pic above) and your movements—some of which could be necessary to help protect yourself, say in a fall—could be restricted, potentially leading to an impact injury. It’s not hard to imagine—think about falling accidentally on a concrete patio in that thing. Makes you wonder what might be worse—the potential for a whiplash type injury or your head banging against the concrete. Neither option sounds great.
If the comments over at the Toys R Us website where the Bongo Ball is sold are any help, the possibility of one or more of the air chambers deflating or losing air can also add to the risk for injury; the “pillow” you thought you were landing on suddenly isn’t there anymore.
While the Bongo Ball is the 51-inch inflatable ball that WATCH identifies as potentially dangerous, check out the similar “Waterwalker” that you can find over at Gigaball.net (at right)—you have to love the picture the company uses to promote the floating version of the gigaball—now that looks safe, right? Forget just being concerned about being stuck inside some big plastic thing on top of water and hoping it won’t puncture—your greater worry is apparently whether you’ll come out bruised and battered. The irony here is that even backyard trampolines warn not to have more than one person use at a time—but Gigaball.net? They’ll even promote having more than one person go at a time!
It should be noted that most of these inflatable balls—save the Waterwalker—do indicate that they are NOT to be used as floatation devices and that they should be used with parental supervision.
It doesn’t come as a surprise though that WATCH added this toy to their Worst Toys list for the year.
Worst Toy List: Incredible Hulk Gamma Green Fists Pack a Punch
December 4th, 2012. By AbiK
Here’s one that made the Worst Toy List published by consumer watchdog World Against Toys Causing Harm (WATCH): 
Marvel Avengers Gamma Green Smash Fists.
What possibly could go wrong with these?
The description of them over at KMart.com says the following:
“When you put these green hands of power on your own hands, it will be that much easier to imagine yourself smashing everything that gets in your way!”
Sounds like what every 7-year old boy needs to find under the tree Christmas morning—a potentially dangerous toy!
According to WATCH, the issue with these is that there is the potential for “blunt impact injuries” (really?) and, the watchdog group states there are no warnings on the product. Maybe the folks at Marvel thought the image shown here—which is from their website—is enough of a warning: yes, ginormous green fists coming straight at you, or some object, could inflict harm.
Warnings or not, get a group of 10 & under kids together with a pair of these and it’s almost guaranteed there’ll be some “blunt impact” going on—or at least some damaged drywall or knocked over lamps. Not to mention the phone calls mom will receive after the play date from the other kid’s moms.
Hasbro manufacturers them, and they’re available at stores like KMart, Target, Kohl’s and Wal-Mart for about $19.99.
Mayo Clinic Phasing out Ambien after Slip and Fall Study
November 20th, 2012. By AbiK
The Mayo Clinic has decided to phase out use of Ambien, the prescription sleeping pill, over concerns that patients on the drug have a higher rate fall rate than those who are not on it.
In a study conducted by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN and published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine (11/19/12), researchers reviewed fall data from more than 16,000 patients who were hospitalized. The study found that patients who were given Ambien while hospitalized experienced falls more than four times greater than those who were not given Ambien. According to the study, the fall rate for patients given Ambien was just over 3 percent compared to a fall rate of 0.7 percent for patients not given Ambien.
What’s interesting about the Mayo Clinic Ambien study as well is that the fall rate associated with the drug was greater than that associated with factors such as age, mental impairment, insomnia or delirium. And, that held true no matter what the Ambien dosage was.
According to a report at HealthDay News, the Mayo Clinic’s chief patient safety officer, Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler stated via news release, “As a result of our study, we are now phasing out [Ambien] and moving toward sleep enhancement techniques that are not based on drugs and which we believe are safer and probably as effective.”
While the Mayo Clinic is clearly backing off of Ambien as a sleep aid for in-patient care, the study did not find a cause and effect relationship between taking Ambien and falling; however, the association found between the two in the study was enough for the Mayo Clinic to begin to phase the drug out of use.
Weird Lawsuit: Attack of the 600-pound Crucifix
November 7th, 2012. By AbiK
One thing’s clear in this bad faith lawsuit: the plaintiff hasn’t lost his faith in our justice system. Whether he’s lost any faith otherwise, who knows—but David Jimenez is suing St. Patrick’s Church in Newburgh, NY after the church’s exterior crucifix fell on him, crushing his leg, and resulted in an amputation.
Huh?
Well, you need the back story on this one to fully understand it, so here we go.
Jimenez’ wife had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Being a religious man, Jimenez would stop by St. Patrick’s Church and pray in front of the crucifix for his wife to be cured. She ultimately was—and Jimenez felt indebted to the crucifix (and one would assume to God, himself) for his wife’s recovery.
According to CBSNews, Jimenez’ attorney Kevin Kitson stated, “David attributed the cure to his devotion to that cross.”
So, to show his heartfelt gratitude, Jimenez got permission to clean the crucifix, which was apparently in need of a good once-over. So far, so good.
Things unfortunately went south from there. Jimenez began to clean the cross—but it dislodged causing him to fall to the ground, with the cross crushing his right leg.
The alleged culprit? A screw. There was allegedly one screw holding the 600 lb. statue at its base. “The screw was useless. The screw is useless. It supported no anchoring system,” Kitson said in the CBS report.
The report goes on to say that St. Patrick’s Church parishioners collected $7,000 and food for the Jimenez family. But apparently, the insurance company for the archdiocese hasn’t shown the same generosity of spirit.
So what started as a heart-warming story of faith and devotion has now become a heart-wrenching bad faith insurance lawsuit.
The falling crucifix lawsuit is headed to trial, and jury selection was set to begin today.
Trader Joe’s Tuna Can Injury Leads to Lawsuit
October 22nd, 2012. By AbiK
Here’s one that gives new meaning to ‘tuna helper’. Or not, as the case—er, lawsuit—might be.
Tatiana Strage—who is 82 years old—was shopping in a Trader Joe’s on the upper west side in NYC back in February of this year when she reached up for some canned goods and wound up getting hit with a stack of tuna cans that were allegedly above eye level; one hit her right in the eye and nose. As the CBS News/NY reports, Strage was bleeding and dizzy after the incident.
She was given some wipes and a bandage to put on—but that was apparently it.
Well, no word on whether it was chunk white or chunk light—or in oil or water—but now Trader Joe’s may be in a bit of hot water as Strage’s son just happens to be an attorney, Michael Strage.
And now there’s a personal injury lawsuit filed claiming Trader Joe’s workers showed “indifference” and did not do much to help Strage’s elderly mother when she was injured. According to CBS, Strage alleges that two workers stood by and did nothing while his mother was bleeding from the gash on her face and after she had also told the workers she felt dizzy; the workers only later responded by giving her some “wipes and a Band-Aid”.
The Trader Joe’s tuna can lawsuit is seeking $350,000 in damages.
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